RACI Responsible vs. Accountable—Key Concepts Defined

When consultants work through a collaborative role, they don't solve problems for the manager. They apply their special skills to help managers solve problems themselves. The

Each cell within the organization must have someone clearly accountable for it. This doesn’t mean the person is boss and/or gets to make all the decisions. In fact, it’s important to delineate the differences between accountability, responsibility, and authority.

“Tragedy of the commons.” When several people share responsibility for an action or process, often that action doesn’t get done well or at all. To prevent this from happening, group tasks into functions and assign each function to one—and only one—person. These are your areas of responsibility.

RACI (pronounced “racy”). Each letter stands for how someone relates to a project: responsible for doing the work, accountable for the success of the work, needs to be consulted on the work, and needs to be informed on the status of the work.

“First, make sure responsibilities are clearly defined—well known by the person who is responsible, but also by others. Second, make sure it is also clear who the person is accountable to—the person who is responsible for holding the person responsible. And, third, accountability is about understanding why something didn’t work and what needs to ha

Being an Owner sitting in an Accountability Chart seat should entitle you to no more rights than an Employee sitting in an Accountability Chart seat. You must keep these two roles separate. There is a time and place for each of them.